Feathers #1

Somewhere around 8pm last night I finally got to sit down and read. The first issue I picked up was Feathers #1. I really enjoyed my interview with creator Jorge Corona and I knew this was going to be the first comic of the day for me.

The story is centered around a young boy by the name of Poe who is covered in feathers. His eyes are sensitive to the light so he has to wear these cute goggles. The story takes place in a unique world that appears to be per-industrialization (but I'm not 100% certain yet). Poe lives in a part of the kingdom called The Maze which appears to be the area the surfs reside in. It is rampant with homeless gangs of children and adult thugs. Bianca is another focus of the story. She's a girl of aristocratic status with powerful parents. She longs to explore the world but is kept far away from it.

I was surprised how much I was being sucked into this story. Books that focus around children don't often capture my attention like they once did but I fell in love Bianca immediately! Mostly because she reminded me of myself. She was sheltered largely from the world and wanted desperately to have a great adventure! Her mother appears to constantly tell her what to do and how to behave according to what is expected of a young lady. The bit where she's sitting the tree being called down by her mother- well, this part particularly brought me back to my childhood.

The introduction to this series has such a fantastic set up. We get to know a little about the characters through their most intimate moments. Bianca's respite in the tree and Poe's little nested sleeping area (before he sneaks off into the night). It's through small acts of rebellion like these that help adults sympathize and identify with young characters. Despite the story having the familiar situation of the "poor boy meets rich girl" (kinda Disney's Aladdin), the author doesn't treat one character as less important than the other and allows us to get to know the both of them. This is very important to me personally where often the female character is used purely as trophy and plot device.

The artwork is what initially drew me into the series. Realizing it was fantasy based helped largely. I'm a lush for escapism, aren't most of us? Corona has admitted to me that Mignola is a large influence on his artwork (among many others) but after really reading the issue and taking a closer look at the inside art, I started to get this Skottie Young cuteness feel in the faces of some of the characters. Perhaps mostly in Bianca's facial expressions which are particularly endearing.

In the end, Feathers promises adventure for all ages. It's fun, witty and has a soul all it's own. A soul which popular all ages comics are often without. Many, too concerned with selling toys and other such merchandise rather than telling a story that will potentially impact your life forever. After all, isn't that what good stories are all about?